Notorious recap: Season 1, Episode 6

It’s been a minute since Notorious revealed any new information about Sarah Keaton’s murder, and while it seems that next week will finally be the big reveal as to who is behind her murder, this week, we’re left with even more questions: Why did she never tell Jake or Oscar about her teenage pregnancy? Why was she storing old, ugly furniture in a storage unit? And was Barcelona really as great as Jake and Sarah keep making it seem?

The main focus this week wasn’t Sarah or the fact that Oscar agreed to re-hire Jake as his attorney. No, this week, we were introduced to Callie Connors, a Louise Herrick rival with a flair for the dramatic. Connors’ show beat out LHL in the ratings the previous night because she broke the story of Emily Parker, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed high schooler who was mysteriously snatched from her home and has been missing since.

Because Jake is apparently the only attorney in all of Los Angeles, Parker’s parents have hired him as their lawyer. But despite his best efforts, they pass up an offer to appear on Jake’s BFF’s show LHL, and choose instead to appear on Callie’s show because she offered up a large chunk of cash.

Anyway, the story Julia chooses to focus on is that of a teenager named Rosa, who disappeared after working her night shift at a fast-food restaurant. Her mother, Sylvia, talks with Louise on the show and pleads for a safe return for her daughter. As soon as Callie gets wind of Sylvia’s appearance, she’s quick to point fingers as to who is responsible for Rosa’s disappearance. She flashes a photo of Rosa’s black boyfriend Braden, calls him a “thug,” and accuses him of being involved in her disappearance. See? Again, another opportunity to really make a point about racism that’s completely overlooked and never mentioned again.

NEXT: Where’s Rosa?

Meanwhile, America’s Golden Girl Emily Parker is revealed to have had some… scandalous secrets up her sleeve. After Ella does some digging, she realizes that Emily was active on a website where she stripped off her clothes in front of her webcam for money. Eek. The police suspect that Emily may have been kidnapped by someone watching her videos online. Emily’s parents are distraught by the revelation that their good little girl wasn’t so good, and beg Callie not to reveal the development to her viewers. Jake asks her to hold off as well, for fear that whoever has Emily kidnapped will freak out and hurt her when they realize the cops are closing in. Because Callie is cold and heartless, she refuses, and informs the world of Emily’s dirty little secret.

Julia, meanwhile, is dead-set on solving the mystery of Rosa’s disappearance because she is a genuine person who cares, but also mostly because it’d be a great way to inadvertently tell Callie to suck it. With Ryan’s help (ugh, missed you last week, Ryan!), Julia concludes that Braden had nothing to do with Rosa vanishing, and turns to video footage from her fast-food restaurant job for clues. They witness a scary incident in the video where an angry customer demanding CrissCut fries leaps out of his car in an angry rampage toward Rosa. Julia calls on D.A. Max to hunt the man down (and secure a romantic dinner date while she’s at it), and mysterious angry man soon reveals that the fast-food joint was actually a front for a drug trafficking ring. Yikes.

To sum the Rosa story up quickly: Rosa’s mom was in on the whole drug thing and got Rosa the job there because she was tight with the manager, Miguel. For all the hours Rosa worked, she never saw a penny, as it all went straight to Sylvia. Rosa was fed up, planned to run away with Braden, and had been stealing money from the restaurant in order to do so. Miguel found out, was inevitably pissed, and had his cousin kidnap her. Julia solves the mystery, frees Rosa, and earns her title as Velma of the Scooby Gang this week. Callie also reveals that Emily Parker’s body was found, meaning that Jake’s theory was potentially right, and it was Callie’s scoop that caused her kidnapper to snap.

As for Jake, he pays a visit to a mysterious storage unit rented out in Sarah’s name filled with nothing but dusty old furniture and a photo of Jake and Sarah in Barcelona. He doesn’t think much of it, and leaves to go to his LHL interview. However, Max and his crew think a whole lot of it, and, believing the storage unit to be where Jake hid the murder weapon he “killed” Sarah with, arrest him live on air as he’s speaking with Louise.

So… does that mean Max and Julia’s dinner date is off?

EPISODE GRADE: C+